Leather Lacing Tips

[Chief31794]

I have never did a video before but I saw a few posts with people expressing frustrations about lacing so I made a tutorial with lacing tips for Double Loop lacing. If people like it I may do one on Mexican Round Braid except it will be more toward how to do the stitch, starting, ending, and going around corners. This one is more about how to get your stitches to look neat and even, I assumed everyone knows how to do the Double Loop stitch. I could also do one on Two-Tone lacing.

Let me know if you like them.

Ken

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

[Wishful]

Thanks, watching now..

[DoubleC]

Chief, those were great videos. I love lacing but I have only been able to understand Mexican round braid from the book, and I saw from your videos I didn't do the corners right or end it right. Thanks so much for doing this, and I am sure people would love on on round braid. I can do the stitch but I'd still like to see it. Cheryl

[Chief31794]

Chief, those were great videos. I love lacing but I have only been able to understand Mexican round braid from the book, and I saw from your videos I didn't do the corners right or end it right. Thanks so much for doing this, and I am sure people would love on on round braid. I can do the stitch but I'd still like to see it. Cheryl

Thanks Cheryl,

I'm carving a project now that I'll be using Round Braid on in about a week or so, I'll video it and if post it if it looks like it might help folks with that stitch.

Ken

Thanks, watching now..

Thanks Wishful,

Let me know what you think.

Ken

[DoubleC]

Thanks Chief.

[Northmount]

I have never did a video before but I saw a few posts with people expressing frustrations about lacing so I made a tutorial with lacing tips for Double Loop lacing. If people like it I may do one on Mexican Round Braid except it will be more toward how to do the stitch, starting, ending, and going around corners. This one is more about how to get your stitches to look neat and even, I assumed everyone knows how to do the Double Loop stitch. I could also do one on Two-Tone lacing.

Let me know if you like them.

Ken

Great videos. I would definitely like to see additional ones on Mexican Round Braid and Two-Tone. I've been thnink of doing both one of these days.

I was surprised by the number of photos people have posted where the lace was twisted, uneven and no attempt made to close the start and finish. I would have thought that it was obvious to keep the lace from twisting and showing the backside of the lace. I do realize it is hard for the first couple projects to figure out how to close.

It is good practice to always pull out the first 3 to 6 loops from the start so the angle of the lace is consistent at the join. It may be obvious to you and I that you should always start the lacing in an area where the ends can be buried between layers of leather (as you have done). If you do some edits, maybe add that comment.

I have been using the perma-loc lacing needle for 50 years (same one, never replaced, just misplaced a few times). I have a nice slim one, curved. I use it for both 3/32 and 1/8 lace. I wouldn't buy the larger diameter needle. It's too big. The ones Tandy has now may need the pointed end filed down and reshaped a little.

In your video, the contrast and brightness ratios make it hard to see the difference in color of the dark brown lace and the lighter brown of the leather. Often they both look black so you can't see what you are trying to show us. So take your desk lamp (or other lamp with a reflector that you can position) and set it above left so the camera peeks inbetween your shoulder and the lamp. The brighter light on the subject will improve the contrast and brightness, and the color rendition as well. Since we are not concerned with exact color, you don't have to worry about special daylight lights. Fluorescent or tungsten will work fine. The auto color balance on the camera will take care of some of the color shift anyhow.

Again ... great job. It will help a lot of people improve their lacing skills and their project quality.

CTG

Edited June 24, 2012 by northmount

[Chief31794]

Great videos. I would definitely like to see additional ones on Mexican Round Braid and Two-Tone. I've been thnink of doing both one of these days.

I was surprised by the number of photos people have posted where the lace was twisted, uneven and no attempt made to close the start and finish. I would have thought that it was obvious to keep the lace from twisting and showing the backside of the lace. I do realize it is hard for the first couple projects to figure out how to close.

It is good practice to always pull out the first 3 to 6 loops from the start so the angle of the lace is consistent at the join. It may be obvious to you and I that you should always start the lacing in an area where the ends can be buried between layers of leather (as you have done). If you do some edits, maybe add that comment.

I have been using the perma-loc lacing needle for 50 years (same one, never replaced, just misplaced a few times). I have a nice slim one, curved. I use it for both 3/32 and 1/8 lace. I wouldn't buy the larger diameter needle. It's too big. The ones Tandy has now may need the pointed end filed down and reshaped a little.

In your video, the contrast and brightness ratios make it hard to see the difference in color of the dark brown lace and the lighter brown of the leather. Often they both look black so you can't see what you are trying to show us. So take your desk lamp (or other lamp with a reflector that you can position) and set it above left so the camera peeks inbetween your shoulder and the lamp. The brighter light on the subject will improve the contrast and brightness, and the color rendition as well. Since we are not concerned with exact color, you don't have to worry about special daylight lights. Fluorescent or tungsten will work fine. The auto color balance on the camera will take care of some of the color shift anyhow.

Again ... great job. It will help a lot of people improve their lacing skills and their project quality.

CTG

Thanks Northmount,

Great tips.

Ken